Jamie Hayter pulls back the curtain on her previous absence from AEW television.
Last August, Jamie Hayter made her triumphant return with a surprise encounter with Saraya, Harley Cameron, and Outcast allies at AEW All In. The road to get there, though, was anything but.
“When I got hurt, I didn’t know what it was. I was still training and wrestling at first. After a while, I couldn’t stand up straight. I was in excruciating pain. I couldn’t even get out of bed for PT,” Hayter told Undisputed in reference to the two herniated discs in her back. “It gutted me. It sucked.”
“I didn’t even watch much wrestling. I did a lot of writing, listened to music. When I could move, I’d get outside. It’s nice and sunny here in Georgia, so I wanted to be present in my current situation. Wrestling would always be on the back of my mind, but I needed to focus on my every day and focus on me. I was going to need surgery, but then the pain massively subsided. Weirdly, I’m now glad it happened. Personally, on the inside, I feel a million times better.”
Initially, Hayter was unaware of her exact condition and continued her daily life as normal. She even went skydiving on her birthday. Eventually, though, the pain became too much to bear and she finally sought out an official medical opinion, which resulted in the diagnosis of herniated discs.
Hayter Overcomes Her Doubts
During her subsequent recovery, Hayter began having doubts of her future in professional wrestling. Luckily, those doubts eventually subsided, with the former AEW Women’s Champion once again finding her spark to compete.
“The injury, it rattled my whole world,” Hayter said. “I truly didn’t know how long I was going to be out or if I could even come back to wrestling. Even after I came back, I didn’t feel right. I don’t mean physically. It’s just the injury spooked me, it affected my confidence. I’ve been back for eight months, and now I’m finally starting to feel like myself again. When I’m in the ring, I know who I am again.”
In the present day, Hayter finds herself in the finals of the Women’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament, pitted against “The CEO” Mercedes Mone. Should she defeat Mone, she will then go on to challenge for the AEW Women’s Championship, currently held by her last opponent prior to her absence, Toni Storm.
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